Could It Be?
by His1Princess
Summary: Duncan moves to Courtney's school after Total Drama Action, but he hates her. Will the help of her new friend, help make everything better? Or will it end in disaster for everyone?
1. Chapter 1

**Could it be?**

**I've been more than just a little sad since I was voted off Total Drama Action. Not only had I lost the money, but I lost the most important thing. Duncan. I pushed, and pushed, and months later, he still won't talk to me. My 'friends' have tried to cheer me up, but their cheering up, is simply insulting him, and me, like now for instance.**

"**Oh, look, Court, that new boy looks like your type!" Annabella said, pointing towards a black haired boy with baggy jeans and t-shirt. **

"**Will you please just leave me alone, already?" I asked, glaring at her. **

"**Whatever." She stated, flipping her hair and turning around to speak to someone else behind her.**

**Once she had turned around, I glanced back at the boy. He actually did remind me of Duncan. Large turquoise eyes, the black hair, though it had no mo-hawk, and the piercings. It almost made me want to cry. Then he met my eyes, his widened to the size of saucers and he instantly looked away. **

"**That's my brother. He's a strange one." A black haired, thin girl who was standing just beside my desk said, "I'm Georgia, and you are?"**

"**Courtney. When'd you all move here?" I asked, intrigued by the new kids. **

"**Over the winter break. My brother's been bummed about some girl he met on some TV thing, and my parents decided the cold and lack of sunshine wasn't really helping him." She answered, laughing out the last part a little.**

"**Oh, that's horrible." I replied, as the girl sat down in the desk beside me.**

"**You know, he probably looked away, because you kind of look like the chick…what's your name again?" She asked.**

"…**Courtney…" I answered, suddenly putting together all the pieces of the girl's story. **

"**Oh, my god!" She shrieked, jumping slightly from her seat, "that was her name too! You didn't happen to be on the Total Drama stuff, did you?" **

"**Uhm…yeah. I was." I answered, knowing full well that the girl would probably flip shits on me once the answer was out. **

"**You have to go talk to him!" She whispered excitedly, flicking her eyes back to her brother. **

"**What?" I asked, shocked by the answer she'd given me, she was so unlike her brother. **

"**You have no idea how much he's missed you. I need you to go talk to him. I'm going crazy with him talking about you." She answered, rolling her eyes. **

"**I can't go talk to him. I was horrible to him the last time I saw him." I said, looking back at the him nostalgically. **

"**So? Just talk to him." She said, just as the teacher came in and began roll call. **

**I looked back at him once more, and decided, if I saw him in lunch, I'd talk to him. No sooner, no later, and no chickening out. **

**DCDCDCDCDCDC**

**After third block I headed over the cafeteria, dreading the moment when I saw Duncan, because of course he'd be in my lunch block. The god's would make it like that, and besides, Georgia had his schedule memorized, and told me he had it now. When I'd made that promise to myself, I clearly hadn't been thinking about how nervous I'd be. **

"**Courtney!" Georgia yelled, as soon as I entered the Cafeteria, beckoning me over to where she sat with Duncan, who looked pissed.**

"**Hey, Georgia." I said quietly, when I reached the table, sitting directly across from her, and refusing to look Duncan in the eye. **

"**I'm going to go get some food out of the line. Stay here, I'll be right back." She said swiftly, winking at me as she left to go into the long line. **

"**Why, are you here? Why couldn't you just pretend you didn't know what she was talking about?" Duncan asked, his voice angry and impatient, as soon as Georgia was out of hearing range. **

"**Because, I couldn't just lie to her!" I exclaimed, finally looking at him since the first time I'd enter the room. He looked a mess up close, his eyes were red, and dull, his lips a thin line, while the rest of his face was tensed. **

"**Yes, you could've. Everyone who knows what's best for them, lies to her." He answered, the muscles in his shoulders flexing as he clinched his fists open and closed repeatedly. **

"**Well, clearly, I don't know what's best for me. I mean, I told the truth to your sister, then I listened to her, and then I came over here, where I'm clearly not wanted, all on my own." I asked, glaring at him shortly, angry at him for assuming that I didn't know how to take care of myself. **

"**Clearly, you don't." He replied, looking at me sharply. **

"**Duncan, I came because I feel terrible, I just want you to forgive me. I miss you." I answered, finally letting out my pride, and allowing my emotions to control my speech. **

**He looked taken aback by my honesty for a moment before replying with, "It's too complicated for everything to be forgiven like that" He snapped once for emphasis.**

"**Why not?" I asked, knowing that while I'd been terrible, it had also been a long time since then. **

"**Because, I loved you, and you took advantage of that. You took advantage of me, and when you care for someone, you don't do that." He answered, his eyes softening a little when he talked about how he'd felt. **

"**I loved you too, Duncan, but-" **

"**There aren't any buts. You screwed this up, now you get to live with it." He answered, getting up.**

"**Duncan!" I called out, trying to stop him, but instead, just making people turn and look at us. **

"**Just leave me, alone." He answered, his eyes hard and focused, and angrier than I'd ever seen them. **

**With that, he simply picked up his things, and walked away, amid the whispers and murmurs of everyone in our school making up stories about us. **

"**What happened?" GEorgia asked, appearing out of nowhere, without a bit of food in sight. **

"**He still hates me." I sighed out, tears pinpricking at my eyes.**

"**Oh, no! Don't cry, I'll fix this all. Somehow. I promise." She said, nodding once, more to herself than to me, before picking up both her things and mine and guiding me to the bathroom where we spent the rest of lunch, me crying, and her consoling me. **

**That's when I realized, that maybe, the only real friend I had, was my ex-boyfriends sister. **

**A/n: I'm not quitting Let The Fire Die, just starting a new story, so don't get your panties in a bunch. Haha, but anyways, please read, and look for updates on both stories, also, once I finish one of these, I may write more on Only His Princess, or a sequel :D thank you to everyone who's reading/ read, one or more of my stories! (: review please! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Could It Be?**

**Chapter 2**

"**Duncan!" Georgia yelled, knocking on my door after school. **

"**What?" I asked, turning the stereo down only a fraction of a turn.**

"**Turn that crap off, and come out here!" She yelled, banging on the door. **

"**What do you want, punk?" I asked, doing what she said and then going into the hallway. **

"**I need to talk to you, about Courtney!" She said, pulling me toward the living room.**

"**No way! I told you, girls are an off-topic for you to talk with me about." I said, pulling my arm out of hers, and stopping.**

"**Duncan, she's not just any girl! She's in love with you! This may be your only chance to find love! And she's totally heartbroken about you not talking to her!" She said, looking at me with pleadingly sad eyes. **

"**I don't care. I'm sick of her treating me like a rag doll." I answered, throwing my arms across my chest.**

"**Duncan! Just talk with me!" She said, pulling on my arm again. **

"**Why do we have to talk in the living room?" I asked, just as it dawned on me, "Georgia, I swear to God, if you brought her here, I will murder you in your sleep." **

"**Well, I guess I'll just have to start sleeping with one eye open." She answered, smirking just as she pushed me into the living room, and locked the door. **

"**Georgia! When I get out of here! I'm going to slaughter you!" I yelled, banging on the door as she laughed on the other side. **

"**It's not exactly like I'm happy about this either." A voice said from the corner. **

"**Oh, really, so you didn't plan this with my sister? She just happened to decide to start treating me like a dog after you come into town?" I asked, turning to face her, glaring. **

"**She said she wanted to study. I didn't know we were coming here. And when I found I really just wanted to leave. But she said you wanted to see me. Obviously, she lied." Courtney answered, staring down at her knee's which were folded in front of her. **

"**Courtney, get a clue. I. Never. Want. To. See. You. Again. Get it through your head." I answered, glaring down at her, as I began pacing the room, trying to figure out how to get out of here. **

"**I get it now." She answered, continuing to stare at her knee's while tears pinpricked at her eyes. **

**I sat down on the chair opposite the couch she was sitting on, and watched her for a moment. She looked just the same as always, he hair was slightly longer than usual, and her tan was a bit deeper than I remembered it. But the biggest difference, was her expression, while she used to be happy and smiley whenever we were alone together, now she just looked like her life was falling apart.**

"**I'm sorry, you know." Courtney whispered after a few minutes, finally looking up at me.**

"**Really? Never would've known." I answered, looking away from her and trying to keep up the anger I'd been treating her with since I got her, but it was getting harder by the second. **

"**Well, I am. I didn't think I'd act so…stupid! If I had, I never would've written that stupid thing up in the first place." She answered, looking back to her knee's. **

"**Whatever, that doesn't change anything." I answered, biting down on my lip to keep from going over there and hugging her or saying the wrong thing. **

"**Duncan, will you ever forgive me?" She asked, coming over to stand beside me.**

"**I don't think so." I answered, looking up into her beautiful onyx eyes, which were pleading with me to just forgive her already and kiss her like I really wanted to. **

"**Okay." She answered, returning to the couch in her folded position. **

"**Just tell me why you did it." I said, looking over at her.**

"**I just…I wanted to control what happened the second time. Since…you know…I thought you were with Gwen and I don't know…I just wanted to control everything." She said, looking from the ground to me and back again. **

"**You can't control people." I answered, just as Georgia came rushing into the room. **

"**Duncan, dad's home." Georgia whispered, her eyes wide as a deep voice began yelling as things pounded around downstairs. **

"**Shit." I answered, and then looked to Courtney, "you have to leave, c'mon." **

"**What?" She asked, glancing from Georgia to me and back.**

"**Dad's not gonna like you being here. He barely even likes us being here." Georgia stated simply, while pulling on Courtney's arm to yank her to my room where she could climb out the window. **

**DCDCDCDCDCDC**

"**Georgia, you're dad can't be that bad, can he?" I asked as she pulled me down a hallway Duncan following closely behind us. **

"**Clearly, Duncan didn't tell you anything about his home life." She said, looking back briefly to give Duncan a dirty look. **

"**What? That's much too deep to have been talking about with her!" Duncan said.**

"**Oh, so what? I was just supposed to be some Barbie doll summer fling for you?" I asked, glaring at him shortly. **

"**That's what was supposed to happen." He muttered, sounding like that plan hadn't worked too well. **

"**You guys, go in there, Duncan get rid of her, and I'll try and slow down Dad." Georgia whispered as heavy footfalls began coming up the staircase. **

"**No, George, I can take of him." Duncan said, stopping her with his hands as she passed him. **

"**You need to say bye to her. I'll see you tomorrow, Court," Georgia whispered before heading back down the hall. **

"**C'mon." Duncan answered, pulling me into the room behind him. **

"**Who's room is this?" I asked, looking around at the plain area surrounding us. **

"**Mine." Duncan huffed out, going over to the window and trying to pull it open as I spotted the only personal item in the room. **

**I walked over to the bright blue frame and turned it over to find the only picture that I'd kept of that time on Total Drama Island and Action. It was a small picture of Duncan and I, smiling at each other, Bridgette had taken it a little while after we'd kissed the first time. We both looked so happy, and so very different form how we were now. **

"**It's time to leave." Duncan said, turning around just as I set the frame back down on the table. **

"**Okay." I answered, looking at him sadly.**

**I walked over and slipped out the window, and just before I dropped, I whispered, "I saw it. I love you." then fell down into the darkness. **

**DCDCDCDCDCDC**

"**Duncan! Where the hell are you?" My father screamed just as a loud bump hit the wall, taking me out of my daydream of what had just happened. **

**I peeked out of my room to see Georgia lying on the ground, her face in her hands as my dad stood above her. **

"**Dad, leave her alone." I answered, sick of these nightly fights. **

"**You don't tell me what to do, boy!" He slurred out, throwing a punch toward my face that I easily dodged. **

"**You know what? You don't tell me what to do anymore." I answered, glaring at him, before beginning to throw punches at every part of him that I could reach. **

"**Get out of my house!" He bellowed after a few hits.**

**I gladly moved away from him, and toward the stairwell, when Georgia finally spoke up, "You can't leave Duncan!" She pleaded.**

"**George, I gotta." I answered, turning away from her, and hoping that she'd get out soon too. **

**The only thing I could think of while wandering out in the cold, was how much I'd just screwed up my only chances of being happy again. With Courtney. **


	3. Chapter 3

Could It Be?

Chapter 3

"We need to talk." Georgia stated as soon as she walked in the door the next day, her hair a frizzy curly mess and her clothes rumpled.

"What's wrong? Where's Duncan?" I asked, instantly noticing his absence.

"That's what I need to talk to you about. Now C'mon!" She said, pulling me to my feet and then out the door to the girl's bathroom across the hall.

"He got into it with Dad, and now he's gone." She stated after checking to be sure that no one was in any of the stalls.

"What? What do you mean, 'gone'?" I asked, leaning against the wall.

"I mean, he came broke in the house around midnight to take some stuff, and I have no idea where he is, or where he'll go." She answered, looking at me pitifully.

"I don't know either…" I said trailing off as a memory came crawling into my head.

"Are you sure?" She asked, looking at me questioningly.

"He's still here somewhere." I answered definitely.

"How do you know?" She asked, looking at me confused.

"Back when we were on the Total Drama stuff, he said, that sometimes he wanted to run away, but he'd never had anywhere to run to before. Now he knew where to run to." I answered, smiling slightly at the memory.

"Where did he have to run to?" Georgia asked, scrunching her forehead a little, clearly confused.

"To his heart."

"So…do you think he might go to your house?" She asked, after looking at me sadly, clearly finding the moment to be a sweet one.

"He might…but does he even know where I live?" I asked, thinking that he had to way to find out where I lived.

"We're still talking about my brother right? The criminal?" She asked, looking at me incredulously.

"Oh, yeah. Let's go." I answered, pulling her into the hall and only briefly stopping into our classroom to get my books before heading back out into the crisp fall air, and trudging to my house, hoping that somehow Duncan had found a way there.

DCDCDCDCDCDC

I'd watched Courtney leave that morning to go to school, and as badly as I'd wanted to climb down this branch and tell her everything that had happened, I couldn't. Her parents were watching and I knew it. So I'd waited for them to leave, and then I'd slipped in a window that had been left cracked open. Everything in this house was shiny, new and impressive.

Months ago, I'd told Courtney that I knew where to run to, and that it was to her, and if I left, I knew eventually she'd remember it, and I needed to leave her something for when she did. And just as I was getting into her room, the downstairs door burst open, to a chatter of girls and giggles.

"Duncan? Are you here?" One of them asked, as they began climbing the stairs.

"Dunc, if you're here, please come out." The other one seemed to beg.

"I told you he wouldn't be here. He's not dumb enough to stay here for long." The first one, that I realized was Georgia, seemed to criticize the voice that must've belonged to Courtney.

"I know he's here. He's got to be. He wouldn't just leave." Courtney answered defiantly, as they reached her door.

"Duncan?" Georgia asked, just as I was trying to slip into Courtney's closet and hide.

"Hey…" I said, looking sheepishly to the ground.

"What, is your problem?" Georgia asked before beginning to beat on every square inch of my body that she could reach.

"George! You gotta stop! You're gonna break some part of me!" I laughed out, because although her punches were hard for a girl, they weren't that hard.

"You left me there, alone with Dad! Do you realize how pissed he was when he remembered what happened last night? I had to run to school to get away from him!" Georgia yelled, as Courtney stepped between the two of us, finally taking Georgia's hands and pulling them away from me.

"Gee! I'm sorry, but I had to leave. You would've done the same thing." I answered, knowing full well that if she had the chance, she would leave too.

"Yeah, but I would've taken you, you jackass!" She yelled, giving me a look that could kill.

"I'm sorry. But where I'm going, you can't go." I answered, looking away and out the window.

"So wait, you're not staying here?" Courtney asked, dropping Georgia's hands and turning to face me.

"Court, I'd love to stay here. But I'm no good for you, and this would just end badly. I can't do this anymore." I answered, looking at her briefly, trying to asses just how much damage those words had done.

"What do you mean, you can't do this anymore?" She asked, her eyes like daggers to my heart.

"I can't keep fighting and making up with you. It's an impossible and endless circle of unhealthiness." I answered, continuing to look out the window.

"Duncan! At least look at me!" She screeched, stamping her foot.

"Fine." I answered, looking her in the eyes, quickly breaking her heart.

"You, you really mean all of that don't you?" She asked, the realization finally hitting her.

"Court, I'm sorry. I can't anymore." I answered, continuing to stare at her quickly filling onyx eyes.

"Duncan…I…" She tried to say before the tears began spilling over her face and she ran out the door and into the hallway.

"You just had to break the only friend I have's heart, didn't you?" Georgia asked, impatiently looking toward the door, while also glaring at me hard.

"Georgia, you don't know the half of it, so shut your face." I answered, quickly tiring of being nice and simply wanting to get out of here before I made both of them cry.

"You know what? I hope you never come back! I hate you!" She said before running out the door, clearly to both console Courtney and to cry herself.

I sighed before reaching into my pocket and looking down at the envelope in my hand. Things would've been so much better if I'd just be able to sneak in and leave the note, then they would understand. This way they just hated me, so the question was, to leave the note, or not? I looked down at the envelope again before letting it slip to the ground and then simply walking back downstairs, past the two girls whose world's I'd just crushed and then out into the mid-morning sunshine, feeling worse than when I'd gone in.

DCDCDCDCDCDC

"I can't believe he said those things." Courtney said, still angry hours later.

After a few minutes we'd decided it was best if we just stayed at her house and skipped school. Then, when her parents had gotten home she'd simply said I was a new girl at school, and we'd become friends, never once mentioning a thing about Duncan, before we slipped upstairs away from her strict parents eyes.

"I know, Court, but maybe this is for the best?" I aksed, plopping down on the bed, and feeling something crinkle under my back.

"What's this?" I asked, after getting up and finding an envelope with both Courtney and my own name etched into it.

"No idea." She whispered, staring at the familiar handwriting, and practically holding her breath.

"Should we open it?" I asked, not sure if she wanted to hear anything that Duncan had written to the two of us after this afternoon.

"You read it first." She said, picking it up and handing it to me, before turning and facing the other direction.

I read through it once and then re-read it because what it said was beyond shocking.

"Oh, my god. Courtney, you've got to read this." I said, poking her back and waving her over to this.

After the first few lines, she snatched the paper from my hand and began pacing around her room, reading it silently to herself.

"We've got to find him, Georgia." She said after reading it a few times, and thinking for a moment.

"How? Do you have any idea where he might go?" I asked, looking at her nervous behavior.

"Maybe…" She said, smiling to herself, before holding up a finger and going into her closet to make a phone call.

When she came out, she was smiling and nodded once to me before saying "Pack some things, we're going to California." Then she threw a bag at my head, and offered me any of the clothes in her closet that would fit me.

Once we were all packed up, I thought of something, "What're you going to tell your parents?"

"I'm not." She answered simply, opening her window and throwing one of the bags we'd packed to the ground, before picking up the other one.

"What do you mean? They're your parents, shouldn't they know?" I asked, as she slipped out the window and onto the roof, motioning me to follow her.

"This has nothing to do with them. They may be my parents, but this about love, and they have no idea how important it is. Besides they hate Duncan, and would never let me go, and I have to." She answered, looking at me sharply, before jumping from the roof and landing on the ground.


	4. Chapter 4

Could It Be?

Chapter 4

"Well, I never thought I'd see you again." Cole said once he let me in the warm house.

"Yeah, well, I got things to talk about with you." I answered harshly, not dropping my bag or allowing myself to feel even slightly comfortable.

"Have you decided to join me?" He asked, his eyes glinting happily and evilly.

"I don't have any other choices. Don't think I'm choosing this cause I like you now or something." I replied swiftly, lowering my eyes to glare at him even more.

"I thought you had love?" He asked, allowing his eyes to glint out his smile even more so that he wouldn't have to.

"Mistaken." I answered, looking away from him and refusing to let him know how much this was killing me.

"Ah, most are." He answered, finally shutting the door behind me, and guiding me upstairs into a small room that I was supposed to live in.

After he left, I flopped onto the bed and pulled out the picture frame from my room. Inside it was a picture of Courtney and me when we happy. We're both smiling and tanner than we are now, it was just after Owen had won the Total Drama Island competition, and we were happy just to be on the island with each other and not having to compete against each other anymore. Looking at the photo made me wish I'd stayed, but I couldn't, I couldn't ruin Courtney's life more than I already had. But did I really have to do this? This was worse than making a deal with the devil.

DCDCDCDCDCDCDC

"Courtney, I am so tired." Georgia complained, as we went over yet another bump, waking her up.

"Then just go to sleep. The trains going to go over bumps." I answered, rubbing her head a little.

"But I hate it! Where are we going anyway?" She asked, opening her eyes once again and sitting up straighter.

"Just a place I think he'll go." I answered, looking out the window and hoping to God that he wasn't where we were going.

"Court…did he ever tell you about Cole?" She asked, after a moment of silent.

"Georgia, what do you know about that?" I asked, wide-eyed turning to her.

"Well, he doesn't think I know about it, but I know that during the short time we were in Chicago, some homeless kid named Cole tried to get him to join a gang with him. Duncan said no, but I don't think Cole really liked that, we were gone soon afterward so I don't think he had time to really do anything though." She answered, looking away from me for the first time today.

"He said no, because he ran into me." I answered, looking at the hurt girl beside me.

"What?" She asked, whipping her head around to look at me.

"Afterwards, he ran into on the street. My mom had sent me up there to visit my Aunt and her new son, but my Aunt had run out of formula so I had to go out. Duncan ran into me and we had lunch, he told me about the offer, and I almost cried. I told him that I still loved him, and I hoped he did the right thing, and then I walked out. Later, he left a note on my Aunt's doorstep, and told me that he had decided not to because of what I'd said to him." I answered, self-consciously looking down at my folded hands.

"But I thought you guys hadn't been talking since after the Total Drama series?" She asked, her face showing off her obvious confusion.

"After that, he tried getting in contact with me, many times, and eventually he just came to my house, and I told him...I said I'd lied to keep him out of the gang…that's when it all went to hell." I answered, tears pricking at my eyes when I remembered that day.

"Why'd you lie to him?" She asked, touching my hand lightly.

"Because, he was ready to get back and everything and I was scared, I still am." I replied, blushing at the truth behind those words.

"Then why are you doing this now?"

"I can't lose him again." I answered, looking out the window and wishing the train could move faster.

DCDCDCDCDCDCDC

"Duncan, get your ass up!" Cole yelled, knocking on my door at the fucking crack of dawn.

"Shut the hell up." I replied, throwing a pillow at the door, and hoping the jackass would stay on the other side of it, unfortunately I was wrong.

"Get up!" Cole said, pulling me by the feet off the bed.

Instead of answering, I simply growled and walked over to my bag of things, taking out a clean shirt and jeans and shoving the picture under everything, so that no one would find it immediately.

"Go down to the living room, we're all having a meeting." Cole said, shutting the door behind him as I slide my shirt on, and followed him.

"Well, boys, you all know Duncan." Cole said when I entered the living room, amid smiles of all the freakishly evil looking guys in the room, "Now, which one of you would like to show him our surprise?"

"No one?" Cole asked after a moment, a evil smile placed awkwardly on his face as he looked around the room, "Well, then I guess I'll just have to do it myself." With that he walked out of the room and into the hallway.

When he returned a minute later he had to girls behind him, "I believe you know both of these girls, extensively, Duncan?" and with that he pulled the bags off of their head and revealed my sister and Courtney.

"Oh, god." I groaned out, allowing my head to fall into my lap.

When I looked back up, my eyes skated over Georgia and onto Courtney, she looked so scared, and yet so defiant. Her hands were taped behind her back and her mouth was taped over, but the set of her eyes and her face showed off how un-co-operating she was.

"What the hell are they doing here?" I asked, glaring at the younger boy, and wanting to rip his head off, how the hell had he gotten to the two most important people in my life in a matter of hours?

"Oh, it's none of my fault. They came here, all on their own." He smirked.

"What the hell are you talking about? Neither of them would ever dare come down here. Their smarter than everyone in this room combined." I stated, glaring at every other person in the room.

"Guess they weren't smart enough, though." Cole smirked, before kicking Court's knee and making her fall to the ground, clutching while glaring at him through her tears.

"What the hell's your problem?" I asked through clenched teeth fighting against my urges to get to the ground and help Courtney.

"What, is this bothering you?" Cole smirked, before punching Georgia on the back.

And with that, I pounced. I raced at him, and slammed his head against the wall behind him, "You ever hurt either of them again, and I'll kill you."

"Ah, I see I found little Dunky's soft spots." Cole smirked out.

"I'm leaving." I stated, pushing him farther into the wall, and heading back upstairs to get my bag.

When I came back down, Courtney and Georgia were gone and so were everyone else, except Cole.

"Oh, if you want to save your little girls, you better hurry." He smiled nodding towards the basement.

"You ass." I answered before rushing down the steps and wishing to God that this would all just stop and reverse like it was a movie.

DCDCDCDCDCDCDC

After Duncan had slammed Cole into a wall, and then climbed up the stairs Cole's little cronies picked Georgia and I up and carried us downstairs, where they finally un-taped us.

"Well, you little girlies sure are pretty. We're gonna have lot's of fun, aren't we boys?" The greasiest one of them all said, looking at us like pieces of meat.

I looked over at Georgia who had her eyes wide and was looking directly at me, scared as anything. And that's when I made my decision.

"I'll go first, big boy." I smirked out, trying my best to hide my disgust for these boys.

"Court," Georgia whimpered out, looking at me pitifully.

'Don't worry' I mouthed to her, as the boy began putting his hands on me, making me feel nauseous. He pulled my shirts over my head and yanked my pants down just as the upstairs door crashed open. Duncan came rushing down with murder in his eyes.

"Get, the fuck off of her." He screeched, blasting off towards me and the nasty boy, who sat there like a deer in the headlights of a car.

Duncan yanked the boy off of me, and pulled me to my feet before handing me my shirt and turning to the boys, as I began to take care of Georgia.

"How'd you know?" Georgia whispered to me, as Duncan began whaling on all the greasy boys.

"I know him better than you'd think." I answered, smiling at the boy that was more like a hero to me.

"C'mon." Duncan said quickly, once he got a quite second as he grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the stairs, "Go up, I'll be right behind you." He said, pushing both Georgia and I up.

"Duncan," I started, before he turned around.

"Go away from here!" He screeched, waving me away as another fat boy came rushing towards him.

"C'mon Court, he'll be fine." Georgia said with a shaky voice, as she pulled me away from him.

"How are we going to get out, Cole's still up here?" I whispered once we got out of the basement.

"Haven't the foggiest." Georgia answered, peering around a corner to be sure that Cole wasn't nearby, before signaling me to follow her down the clear hallway.

"Upstairs." I said, a good idea finally hitting me.

"Ah, good idea! An upstairs window!" Georgia said, catching onto my idea immediately, and heading upstairs.

DCDCDCDCDCDCDC

After ten minutes of fighting off those fat asses after the girls left, one of those jackasses, stabbed me, and I just ran. I've been sitting outside the house searching for the girls since then.

"Duncan?" A soft voice asked from behind me.

"Thank god." I answered, turning to hug Georgia and Courtney.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" Courtney screeched, slapping me before I could touch her.

"Why would you go off and join a gang, you dummy?" Georgia joined in, slapping me on the other side.

"Look, this has nothing to do with either of you. It's my life." I answered, hardening my face and clenching my fists.

"Oh, and we aren't a part of your life?" Courtney asked her eyes hardening on me.

"You aren't. And you chose that, remember?" I said, glaring right back at her.

"Shut up, Duncan. You ought to know by now that she loves you!" Georgia said, slapping me once again.

"Look, girl, you're still my little sister." I said, emphasizing the little.

"Well, she's right! How can you not know that I love you by now?" Courtney asked, her dark eyes peering into my own with such scrutiny that I had to look away.

"Why are you guys here, anyway?" I asked, turning to Georgia.

"We're here to get you back! Answer my question, Duncan!" Courtney answered, pulling my shoulder and turning me back to her.

"I'm staying here." I said, still refusing to answer that question.

"Duncan, please, just answer my question, how can you not know?" Courtney asked, pleading with me with both her eyes and her voice.

"You really wanna know, Court? Because I don't think you're capable of love!" I answered; finally answering the question with the truth, and making Courtney completely crumple away from me.

"You…You what?" She asked, stepping back from me, her voice quivering.

"I don't think you can love! Every time you claim you love me, you leave. You chicken out. I don't know, either way, you just end it. I just, don't think can love, or you don't know what love is, either way, I don't want a part of this." I said, turning away from her and facing Georgia.

"Duncan, you ass." Georgia spat out at me, looking venomously at me.

"Georgia, you're my sister! Don't go onto her side." I said, throwing my hands up.

"You have no idea, what we've been going through to try and help you, but do you care? No, you just wanna complain about the past and things that happened back then between the two of you. Why would you do that? Especially now?" Georgia asked, turning to Court and trying to comfort her, but Courtney wouldn't allow her to touch her.

"Look, Court, it's nothing against you, I'm just sick of being hurt, can't you understand that?" I asked, turning and crouching onto the hard ground beside the crying girl.

"No, obviously I can't. Because you hurt me just about every time we talk and I just keep coming back for more, don't I? Guess I'm the stupid one here." She answered, glaring directly into my eyes.

"Oh, really Court, I hurt you when you told me that you'd lied when you said you loved me, that you'd only said that to keep me out of the gang? That hurt you? No, I don't think so. It hurt me." I answered, finally just plopping my ass onto the cement and crouching Indian style across from Courtney.

"No, but you telling me all of that stuff that you wanted to be with me, for good? That you'd always loved me? That stuff killed me!" She answered, looking at me for only a minute more, before bursting into tears into her knees.

"Why?" I asked, stunned by her declarations.

"Because of this! Because we fight all the time! And it scares me; it scares the shit out of me. Because I love you too much." She answered now refusing to look at me.

"Come out; Come out wherever you are, little fugitives!" A voice yelled from the house behind us, finally making me realize where we were and what was going on.

"Court, we can fix this later, but for now, we need to save our lives, so c'mon." I said, standing up and holding out my hand to help her up.

"No." She answered mumbling into her knees.

"Blessed." I muttered, looking nervously over my shoulder before bending down and scooping Courtney up, "Get my bag, please George." I asked over my shoulder.

"Yeah sure." Georgia said as I began to run off with Courtney in my arms, and Georgia following after us. I had no idea where we were going, but I knew that it wasn't going to be pretty.


	5. Chapter 5

Could It Be?

Chapter 5

"Are you ever going to talk to him again?" Georgia asked a few hours later when we finally stopped in an old, abandoned warehouse.

"Didn't you hear him? He doesn't want anything to do with me, anymore." I replied, plopping back onto the makeshift bed we'd created in a reclusive corner.

"Yeah, well, he says lots of things he doesn't mean. Actually, most of what he says he doesn't mean." Georgia said, pulling on my hand and making me stand up.

"Gee, I don't think going to talk to him would be a good idea." I said softly, as Georgia pushed me, right into Duncan as he turned the corner.

"God, Courtney, what the hell?" He asked, pushing me lightly off of him.

"I'm sorry-" I started to say as Georgia butted in.

"You two need to talk!" Georgia said, pushing the two of us in the direction Duncan had just come from.

"She's gone batty." Duncan said, looking behind him quickly to throw a meaningful glare at his little sister.

"We can just go back." I said, heading back before the words were even out of my mouth.

"No, she was right. We do need to talk." Duncan replied, grabbing my arm and pulling me along with him.

"No, we don't. I'm pretty sure you got all your talking done a while ago. Remember that?" I said after a few seconds, before ripping his hand off of my arm and throwing it down.

"Yes, I do. And I also remember that I was pretty upset, and worried about you. So I'm pretty sure I didn't say the right things." Duncan replied, hardening his face and turning to glare at me.

"Yeah, well. I heard all I need to. I get that you want nothing to do with me anymore, so just drop it, okay?" I said, wrenching my hand out of his grasp again, and walking away from him.

"Courtney! I didn't mean that!" He yelled out, jogging to catch up to me.

"Where the hell are we? How did we get lost this quickly?" I asked, whipping around to turn and look at him.

"You're so dumb with directions." Duncan said, as he bent his head down and began getting closer to me.

"You're such a pig!" I screeched, slapping his cheek, and pushing him away.

"Yeah, well. I know how much you love your pigs." Duncan said, smiling and taking my hand.

"Could you too get anymore disgusting?" A familiar voice said form behind us.

"Oh, Georgia, stop." I said before turning to look, and finding much more than Georgia.

"What, are we more than you were expecting?" Cole asked, smirking from beside Georgia.

"What the hell are you all doing here?" Duncan growled, stepping in front of me, and softly saying "get away"

"Oh, don't send the little girl away before all the fun gets started." Cole said confidently as I began backing away.

"Don't listen to him, Court. Just run!" Duncan yelled, turning back to face me, as Cole stepped forward whipping out something shiny.

"Duncan!" I yelled out, as Cole thrust his hand forward, stabbing Duncan.

"Run!" Duncan yelled, collapsing on the ground clutching his side.

"Georgia, after her." Cole said, seconds after I ran out the scene.

After five minutes running, I caught myself in a dead end, with Georgia right on my heels. I turned around to face her, hoping for the best, and prepared for the worst.

"So the genius doesn't have a way out this time?" Georgia asked, smirking at me.

"Why would you help Cole? Duncan's your big brother!" I asked, circling around her and trying to think up a plan.

"Yeah, what a big brother. He left me with my abusive father right when I need him most." Georgia growled out, stepping closer to me, as I reached the exit.

"He didn't mean to!" I tried, still trying to appeal to her sisterly side.

"Doesn't matter. Cole's already taking care of him." She said, looking soft for a moment, before putting her mask of anger back on.

"You can stop him though! I know you can. And I know you still love Duncan." I said, reaching out to her, only to have her rip her arm away before I could even touch it.

"I know I do. But Cole would kill me." She said, stopping for a moment to look thoughtful before continuing, "Go. Go save my brother, and make sure his life is amazing, you understand?" She said as she stepped out of the middle of the pathway, and allowed me to run past him.

"I'll do the best I can." I promised as I ran past her and headed back the way I'd come moments before.

"You better." She answered softly.

DCDCDCDCDCDC

"Duncan, are you okay?" A heavenly voice said, as the world around me began closing into a tiny circle surrounded by darkness.

"I'm going to kill, those boys." I muttered out, as Courtney clutched my hand.

"Not today though. Today, I need you to stay right here." She said, wrapping something around my stomach.

"What's wrong?" I asked, as I noticed the hysteria in her voice.

"It's just, well, there's a lot of blood." She said nervously.

"Am I okay?" I asked, as the circle began getting littler again.

"As long as you stay awake I'll know you're okay, for sure. So stay here with me." She said, holding my hand tightly, and letting a few, light tears sprinkle the upper part of my arm.

"I, I can't fight it anymore, Court." I said a few moments later as the darkness enveloped me, and a rainstorm began on my arm.

DCDCDCDCDCDC

"Duncan?" I called to the lifeless body after Duncan had uttered those words that chilled me to the bones.

"This will kill you more than anything I could've done to you." Georgia smiled, as she skipped past the two of us, headed for the big doors on the other side of the warehouse.

"Georgia!" I called after her, my tears hindering me from moving very much.

"Bad girls don't give kindness, to anyone." She said as she reached the end of the pathway. She turned to look at me, muttered something and then smirked at me, before continuing to skip along on her way.

DCDCDCDCDCDC

As I skipped down the boxed path, leaving a sobbing Courtney and an unconscious Duncan, I felt an emptiness in my heart. But as I saw Cole's face looming in front of me, I finally realized how Duncan felt every time he saw Courtney.

"Hey babe, everything good?" Cole asked as I reached him, putting his arm around me.

"Course." I answered, smiling up at him, and allowing him to give me a large kiss.

"Good, then let's go." He said, pulling me along with him as he left my wounded brother and his equally wounded love.

I looked around once at the spot where I'd turned to look one more time at my big brother and prayed, that beyond this moment, I still had a big brother.


	6. Chapter 6

Could It Be?

Chapter 6

"Duncan?" I asked, sitting up straight when Duncan's eyelids began twitching.

"Where the hell am I?" he asked, moving his neck from side to side and looking at his surroundings while trying to get up, without much success.

"We're still in the warehouse." I answered; moving to his side and helping him sit up.

"Why? Where's Georgia?" He asked, still looking around confused.

"Cole stabbed you, remember? Georgia went with him." I answered, blinking away the tears that threatened to spill down my cheeks, after talking about the betrayal of my only real friend.

"Oh, that's right. That would be the pain in my stomach, huh?" He said, laughing softly.

"Oh, Duncan." I said, clinging to his neck and trying to hold back my tears once more.

"Court, I'm fine. It's fine." He said, softly murmuring in my ear as he wrapped his arms lightly around me.

"No, it's not!" I answered defiantly, yanking away from him.

"Courtney, don't be like this." He said as I slid away from him.

"Aren't you concerned at all? You're sister walked off with a gang, and she was making out with the guy who stabbed you!" I cried out, glaring at him, and wondering how in the world he could be so nonchalant about everything.

"Look, Georgia's a big girl. She can take care of herself." He answered, falling back on the ground and sighing.

DCDCDCDC

"Cole, where are we going?" I asked, hours later as we wandered the streets of an unfamiliar town.

"We, aren't going anywhere. I'm going back to the house." He answered, just as a black SUV rounded the corner as high speeds.

"Where the hell am I supposed to go?" I asked as the car slowed down and he moved to get in it.

"Do you think I care?" He asked, looking back at me over his shoulder as he laughed cruelly and got into the vehicle.

I watched the car drive off, and I knew deep inside that I'd been foolish to believe a word that Cole had ever said it was stupid of me to ditch the only person in my family that I cared about and my only real friend for him. But it was too late to be realizing this.

"What the hell!" I yelled, kicking at the barbed wire fence beside me.

DCDCDCDC

"How are you feeling?" Courtney asked me when I awoke the second time.

"Much better than before." I replied, sitting up on my own this time.

"Look, Duncan, I'm sorry about before. I was just being hard."Courtney said, moving closer to me and grabbing my hand.

"I know. But we don't need to worry about Georgia. She chose what she chose." I said, looking into her eyes.

"So what do we do now?" She asked, tears starting to form in her eyes, as she look at me.

"We get ready to go." I said, gripping her hand a little harder as I began trying to stand up.

"Duncan, are you sure that you need to be travelling when you're like this?" She asked, looking at me worriedly as she began helping me get up.

"When else am I gonna go?" I asked, smiling lightly.

"Where are you going to stay?" She asked, looking me in the eyes, worried.

"I'll figure it out later." I answered, thinking about it myself. I couldn't go home, there was no way my dad wouldn't remember the past couple of days when Georgia and I had been missing, and I didn't exactly want to go back. I couldn't afford a hotel for long, and I sure as hell couldn't stay with Courtney, her parents would blow a gasket.

"That means you have no idea, doesn't it?" She asked, looking at me critically as we began walking back to our things.

"Pretty much." I said, smirking at Courtney.

When we got back to the little area where we had put everything, we grabbed our things and then looked at Georgia's small bag. I looked around trying to make sense of why she would have done this to the two of us, when I noticed a large form between two rows of boxes.

"Georgia?" I asked, squinting at the dark shadows.

"Dammit." I heard her whisper under her breath as she emerged from the darkness. Courtney instantly moved closer to me, grabbed my hand and began nervously looking around for everyone else.

"Don't worry, I'm the only one here." She said, stepping forward and grabbing her bag.

"Don't they think you need a little protection?" I asked, looking at the girl I'd watched grow up, and suddenly feeling as though I'd let her down.

"You act like they care for others." She sneered out, turning and beginning to walk back to her place.

"He left you, didn't he?" Courtney finally spoke up, letting go of my hand and walking toward my sister.

"Don't act like you care, either." My sister sneered out, lashing out at her.

"See, that's where you forgot something, cause I do care." Courtney said, reaching out her hand for Georgia's.

"Courtney." I said sternly, causing the girl to turn and look at me, while I shook my head at her.

"Duncan, she's your little sister. Get over it." She answered in just as stern a voice, as she grabbed my little sisters hand and pulled her back over toward me.

"Look, I can take care of myself. You don't need to watch out for me." Georgia said to Courtney, while looking me in the eye.

"Yeah. She's right, Court. Just let her go." I said, looking right back into the eyes that mirrored my own.

"You two are the most stubborn people I've ever met. And neither of you is going to win, because I'm the princess here, and princess gets want she wants, right?" She asked, raising her eyebrow and looking straight at me.

"Whatever." I mumbled, while sharing a look with Georgia that said _'We're the stubborn ones?'_

"Alright, now, we're gonna go back to the train station and then we're all going to go home, okay?" She said, looking at the two of us like we were two years olds and she was our mother.

"whatever." We both mumbled as Courtney grabbed my bag and her own, and then my hand.

"Good." She said, smiling up at me and giving me a light kiss.

DCDCDCDC

We got back into town around midnight, and I knew I was quickly approaching the scariest part of my journey –going back home. My parents were sure to have noticed my absences from school and from home by now. When I got home they were sure to put up a fuss, and when they found where I'd been, and with whom, they were sure to put up an even larger one. I walked into my house just after one in the morning and my parents were both sternly sitting on the couch. I turned back to Duncan and Georgia and pleaded them with my eyes not to leave.

"Courtney, where in the world have you been?" My mother asked, standing up and walking over to me, "you know you were supposed to meet Braden van der Wall tonight!"

"Is that all you care about?" I asked, looking into her dark eyes, and realizing that they were still here.

"Of course not, Courtney. We can talk about everything else later." My father answered gruffly, standing and walking into the dining room where I could see three extremely rich, overly dressed people sitting around our table.

"Where have you really been, honey?" My mother asked, wiping at a dirt smudge on my face, trying to make me more presentable.

"I've been with Duncan." I answered, looking hard into her eyes, and wanting some kind of reaction from her.

"Oh, well, we'll just talk about this later." She said, looking away from me and walking into the room.

"No, we won't." I said, stopping her dead in her tracks.

"Honey, please, don't cause a scene." She said, smiling at me pleasantly and putting on a façade.

"No, I don't want to meet any more 'good' boys, because I want nothing to do with any of them! Do you not understand that?" I said, glaring at her, and causing the exact scene that she wanted to avoid.

"Courtney, get in here." My father said sternly, looking at me harshly, before seating himself at the head of the table.

"No." I said softly, before heading up the stairs and into my room.

Once in my room, I locked the door and rushed into the bathroom. In there, I went to the toilet, grabbed the waterproof bag filled with money out of the tank and went back into my room. I could hear both of my parents banging on the door, giving me the attention that they never did, but it was too late. I wasn't staying here. I grabbed more clothes, some that were too small for me, but might fit Georgia, and then slid my window open. However, it was barred.

"What is the matter with the two of you?" I yelled, wrenching my bedroom door open.

"Honey, this is what's best for you. We know better than you do, just trust us again." My mother said, reaching out for my hand.

"No!" I screamed, ripping my hand away from her grip, "You two wouldn't know what's best for me if it bit you!"

"Darling, I know it doesn't seem like we do, but you have no choice. You have to listen to us, you're a child." My father said, taking my bags from my hands, thinking that was the end of it all.

"Check it again. I've been eighteen for two months. Graduation is in a couple of weeks. I can do whatever I please." I said, taking my bags back from my father and pushing past the two of them.

"Courtney, you have no money." My mother called after me, as if that would have stopped me.

"You two are completely oblivious to everything I do, aren't you? I've been working a part time job since eighth grade, and I've been selling the expensive, gaudy jewelry that you guys give me every holiday since I was ten years old. I've got plenty." I said, turning to look at my parents, and seeing them finally understand that I was leaving for good.

"Honey, please don't leave." My mother said softly, tears falling down her face at the thought of it.

"I'm sorry, but I can't be invisible anymore." I said, waving to them, before going down the stairs and out into the darkness of night.


	7. Chapter 7

Could it be?

Chapter 7

"Courtney, what did you just do in there?" Duncan asked after I came rushing out of the house.

"I can't stay here anymore, Duncan. They don't know me at all, and I'm their child!" I said, allowing to tears to fall down my cheeks.

"Courtney, this is the best place for you right now." He said, holding me close and whispering into my ear.

"What're you trying to say? You don't want me around?" I asked, looking up at him and feeling my emotions swallowing me whole.

"You know that's not the truth. I wish you were around every minute of every day. But it's just not safe for you to be with me right now." He said, clutching me closer as his voice broke.

"But Georgia's going with you." I said, anger and heartbreak beginning to consume me.

"I know. It's not even safe for her. But I can't leave her at home." He said, pulling away from me to look me in the eyes.

"So you can't leave her, but you can leave me?" I said, my lips quivering as I tried to hold in my tears.

"That's completely different. There's no chance of you being killed here." He said, hugging me close once again, but instead of giving in, I simply broke away.

"Yeah, there's just a great chance that I'll kill myself." I said, picking up my bags where I'd dropped my them.

"Courtney." He called after me.

"No, leave me alone. Just go away, for good this time!" I said, without turning around to glance at him before heading back into the hell hole.

DCDCDCDCDCDC

"So it's really over?" Georgia asked, from the bed in the hotel room we'd rented for the night.

"Yup." I said, staring at the ceiling and thinking of everything that had happened since I'd met Courtney and how much my life and I had changed.

"I just don't believe it. I bet if you went over there right now, she'd still go with you." She said, glancing over at me as she tried to hint me into getting Courtney.

"Gee, you know this whole thing is no where near safe, and I just can't do that to her." I sighed turning over on my side and staring at the wall.

"See! That's the way you should have explained it to her!" She called out.

"Whatever, George." I said, reaching over and clicking off the light as she turned on the television.

DCDCDCDCDCDC

"And now, you're Valedictorian, Courtney!" My principal called from the podium to a loud applause.

"Hello, students and parents." I said once I reached the microphone and the clapping had died down, "I think I can speak for every senior when I say, hallelujah."

This caused a few people to laugh, and I suddenly noticed a familiar girl standing near the back of the crowd, filming me with intense scrutiny. When she saw she staring at her, she gasped wide-eyed, and turned to leave.

"I, I think I'm going to puke." I said quickly, saying the first thing that came to my mind as I rushed after Georgia.

"Georgia! Get back here!" I said, pushing my legs faster than I'd ever had to before.

"I'm sorry." She said when I finally caught up to her and stopped her.

"Why are you here?" I asked her, looking right into her eye.

"Duncan wanted to see you graduate." She said, looking at me sadly.

"You mean he's here?" I asked, looking around me frantically.

"No. I was filming it for him. He didn't want to cause a scene, so he didn't come. But clearly even I can cause a scene." She said, turning bright red.

"I didn't want to make a scene, I just, I miss you." I said, helping her off of the ground where I had tackled her.

"You mean you miss Duncan?" She said, looking me right in the eye.

"No. I miss both of you. In case you didn't know, you were kind of my best friend." I said, looking right back into her eye, and opening my arms to her for a hug.

"Courtney? Honey are you okay?" I could my parents calling from just outside of the massive crowd of people who had come for our graduation.

"You should go." Georgia said, picking up the camera where she'd left it and beginning to walk away.

"No way. I lost track of you guys once; I don't want to lose you guys again. It's not happening." I said, walking along side her.

"Court, the truth is, that while I'd love for you to come, Duncan would be more than extremely pissed." She said, looking at me and stopping in her tracks.

"Why would he be pissed? What did I do?" I asked my hopes crestfallen and my heart in my stomach.

"You didn't do anything. He's mostly pissed at himself, and at everything that happened the last time you saw him. I really think he's just embarrassed." She said, reaching out to touch my arm.

"Georgia, I need to see him." I said, pleading with her with my eyes.

"Why such an urgency?" She asked, looking at me quizzically.

"Braden." I said, looking off beyond her and thinking of how horribly she was going to think of me after the next couple of sentences.

"The guy that was at your house when we dropped you off?" She asked, furrowing her brows at me and clearly not understanding at all.

"Yeah, see, after you guys left I went inside and broke down. My parents just let me cry on the stairs, barely even acknowledged I was there. But Braden, he came in and he was there for me, and I know you're probably going to hate me for this, but I started dating him." I explained, bracing myself for her hatred.

"Okay, that doesn't seem too bad, but what's wrong?" She asked, still not quite understanding.

"I found a ring in his jacket the other day, and him and my dad have been having these 'talks' the past couple of days." I answered.

"You think he's going to propose to you? After a few weeks?" She said, looking at me like me and my boyfriend were crazy.

"Yes, and that's why I need to see Duncan." I said, reaching out for her hand.

"So you can tell him and break his heart in person? I don't think so." She said, crossing her arms and looking at me with burning eyes.

"No, so that I know there's still a reason for me to say no. I don't want to marry him; I don't even really want to be with him. I love Duncan, I always will. And I need to know, now more than ever, that he still feels that way about me." I said, unable to look at her as I poured out my emotions.

"Oh, Court!" She said, throwing herself at me to hug me.

"So you'll let me see him?" I asked, looking into her eyes and finally feeling a glimmer of hope.

"No. You need to marry that boy. It's the only way you'll ever get what you truly deserve." She said, pulling away from me and looking at me sadly.

"No, Georgia." I said, looking at her as my voice choked up with emotions.

"I know you guys love each other, and I know the two of you may hate me for a while for saying this, but maybe you just weren't meant for each other." She said, looking at me dead seriously.

"Well, you've convinced me." I said, turning away from her.

"Good, so you're going to marry him?" She said her voice happy and obnoxious.

"No. Quite the contrary. You've convinced me that no matter what, I need to be with Duncan. Cause even when everyone thinks we shouldn't be together, I still want to be with him." I said, turning to glare at the girl who only moments ago I'd been pleading with.

"Courtney, don't do this to yourself!" She cried out, as though she were pleading with me.

"Don't do what to myself?" I asked, turning to look at her, and wondering if maybe there was something she wasn't telling me.

"He's sleeping with other girls, Court. I just didn't want you to get hurt." Georgia said, sincerity filling her voice.

"I don't believe you." I said, looking at her, and wondering why she was going to such lengths to keep us apart.

"Then come with me. He's probably still in bed with his latest one night stand." She said, reaching out for my hand.

"Okay." I said nervously, taking her hand and following her into things unknown.


	8. Chapter 8

Could it be?

Chapter 8

"Duncan! I have something to show you!" Georgia yelled as soon as she slammed the door to our little apartment closed.

"What?" I asked, rubbing my eyes and getting up off the bed, sadly looking around my dank, dark little room.

"Just come out here!" She said, stomping her foot slighlty and making the things in my room shake a little. _God, this apartment is ridiculously unstable. _

"This better be good." I said, coming out of my room in my boxers and stopping short when I saw what was behind her. Courtney. "What is he doing here?" I asked, glaring at her and hoping they couldn't hear my speeding heart right now.

"I came to show something to her." Georgia said, smirking at the both of us, before she continued, "You're both going through hell without each other! Just get over your pride 'cause it's driving me nuts."

"You told me he was sleeping with random girls!" Courtney said, glaring at my little sister, before reaching for her coat and turning around.

"Okay, so I told a little lie, but do you honestly want to walk out that door right now?" Georgia asked, looking at Courtney as she turned and looked her right in the eye.

Courtney glanced over at me quickly, saw that my expression hadn't changed, and then nodded. I could tell this was tearing her heart apart, and I felt terrible about it, but Courtney still needed to stay away from Georgia, and mostly me, in order to be turned back around, opened the door, and then instead heading out of it, headed farther into the apartment, a large, fat, balding guy following her back in and smiling at her evilly.

"Thanks for letting me, darling." He said, which wiped the look of terror that had been on her face a moment ago.

"You, can not call me that!" She said, looking up at him with clear anger and determination.

"Whatever. I'm not here about you anyway." He said, swiping her out of the way with a quick hand motion, "You're who I'm here to see." shockingly, instead of looking at me, his yellow, crooked teeth were smiling at my sister who was cowering in the corner.

"Leave her alone." I said, glaring at the man, as I tried to formulate a plan.

"Shut it, punk." He said, looking over his shoulder briefly before returning his gaze to my sister.

After he turned back around, I went over to Courtney and helped her stand back up, "This is exactly why I told you it was best you didn't stay with us!" I siad, lowering my eyes at her as I visually checked her scrapes, and her body, out. "You seem fine, but you need to get out of here." I said, thrusting her towards my bedroom.

"Duncan! No! I can't leave Georgia and you here like this!" She whispered, looking at me with sheer determination.

"Courtney, go into my room and climb down the escape, do you understand me?" I said, looking at her and for once wishing she would be easy and just go with the flow!

"Duncan!" She said, looking at me with worried eyes, clearly more worried that I wouldn't make it out than she was that she wouldn't.

"Just go, Princess." I said, turning away from her when she finally disappeared into my room.

I gave Courtney five seconds to get out of the apartment before i attacked the guy. I jumped on his back while he was facing my sister, and began choking him. I waved for Georgia to leave the corner and go out the fire escape, and unlike Courtney, she didn't put up a fight of any sort. When I thought he was finally getting weak, I let go and jumped off him before he hit the ground, but as I was running to my room, I felt a sharp pain in my leg and looked down to see a short knife sticking out of my leg. Instead of collapsing I looked over at the man who was still lying on the ground, smirking evilly at me.

"Duncan?" Courtney asked when I got halfway down the fire escape.

"I'm fine, Courtney." I said, too exasperated to come up with some name to call her and annoy her.

"You know there's a knife sticking out of you though, don't you?" Georgia asked, looking up at me with just as much concern as Courtney was.

"Look, I'm fine." I said, hopping down onto the pavement and looking at the worried girls and simply rolling my eyes at them.

"Duncan, you should at least-" Courtney began before I interrupted her.

"Courtney, I'm fine, okay? I don't need your advice." I said, looking at her with a hard look and wishing she would just go away already.

"So, I have a question Duncan." Georgia siad after Courtney and I began a lond staring contest during which both of us where glaring at each other.

"What?" I said, breaking away from Courtney's stare and making her smirk in satisfaction.

"Where are we going to stay now?" She asked, from where she was sitting on an old crate that someone had thrown next to the dumpster. I mean god forbid they actually put it in the freaking dumpster.

"You're going to stay with Princess here, and go back to school, and me, well, I'm going to disappear." I said, looking at both of them and willing either of them to contradict me.

"Duncan, you can't do that." Georgia said, looking at Courtney as though asking her permission to say something that Courtney vehemently shock her head 'no' to.

"What do you guys know that I don't?" I asked, looking at the two girls and wondering why I'd ever chosen to spend my life with two girls. It was beyond confusing to try and have conversations with them, especially since they keep each others secrets so well.

"Braden's going to propose to me." Courtney said slowly, looking down at the ground that was littered with dirt and trash.

"Who? What?" I asked, looking at her in utter disbelief. I'd only been gone a few weeks and she already had a fiancee?

"That's why I wanted to come here." Courtney said, looking at me with her onyx eyes fill of tears.

"So you could tell me in person? Well congrats, you did. Now take my sister and the both of you just go away." I siad, turning away from them, crossing my arms, and trying to breathe normally.

"You have it completely wrong, Duncan." Courtney said, coming up behind me and touching my shoulder.

"What do I have wrong? That you love some other boy? That you want to spend the rest of your life with someone else? I get it, Court okay? I get it! You win, just like always. You got over me first. Congratu-fucking-lations." I siad, turning and staring at her while spitting out the words that tasted like vinegar coming out of my mouth.

"Duncan, I wanted to see you so that I'd know for sure that I shouldn't marry him. So that I knew I still had a reason not to." She said, looking up at me, her dark orbs looking softer and more hurt than I'd ever seen.

"Just take my sister and go back to your perfect life, okay?" I said, refusing to let down my cover and give her what she wanted. What she needed was safety, and I couldn't give her that right now.

"Oh, okay." She said, looking at me sadly before turning and motioning for Georgia to follow her as she left the alleyway.

As I watched the two girls walk away, I felt my whole world come crashing down around me. Soon, Courtney and I would never be able to exist, she would be married, to some annoying little preppy boy, and Georgia would be with her. And I wouldn't have a place in either of their lives anymore.

DCDCDCDCDCDC

"Courtney, are you okay?" Georgia asked me about fifteen minutes after we'd left the alley and Duncan.

"No, but it doesn't matter anymore." I said, sighing and suddenly just plopping myself down onto the hard, concrete of the road.

"Look, he really doesn't mean that, I know he doesn't." Georgia said, seating herself beside me and rubbing my back, trying to cheer me up, without success.

"Georgia, you don't get it. It was either stay with Duncan or get married to Braden. If I'm at home, my parents are going to make me with him, this was it for me." I said, looking at her, and feeling the tears well up in my eyes for the second time today.

"Courtney, I'm sure your parents won't make you marry him, especially if you don't want to." She said, smiling serenely at me, with a sweetness and an unknowing that I wish I could possess.

"Just wait until we get to my house. Then you'll see." I said, picking myself back up off the curb and helping Georgia up, and then beginning to trudge back along the road, depression and despair deep-set in my heart.

DCDCDCDCDCDC

"Courtney, honey! Finally your home!" My mother said, strangely greeting me, and only looking over at Georgia once, "There is something so exciting that is about to happen."

"What, mom?" I asked, not even bothering to pretend I didn't know, and not putting any kind of enthusiasm in my voice.

"Just wait until you see Braden!" She said, smiling at me.

When we entered our large, expensively decorated living room, I saw my father talking to Braden's father while his mother stood admiring some of the never-been-opened one-of-a-kind books my parents had on the shelves of our living room. Meanwhile, Braden sat on the love seat, broadly smiling at me in his tuxedo.

"Honey!" He said, standing up, and rushing over to me to give me kisses on both of my cheeks.

"Hey, Braden." I said, just standing there like a zombie, while all of our parents beamed at us, and Georgia stood awkwardly in the corner.

"So, I have something to ask you." Braden smiled down at me, as he bent down on one knee, and opened the black velvet box that was inside of his tuxedo jacket.

"Braden-" I started, but he simply reached up and put his finger over my mouth, his eyes twinkling up at me with happiness.

"Courtney, I know we've only been together a few weeks, but these few weeks have been the best of my entire life. You are so amazing in every way, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?" He asked, smiling at me with lights in his eyes.

I suddenly felt my stomach drop, I looked over at his parents, who were beaming at their only son, and clasping hands. Then I looked to my parents who were glaring at me to do the right thing. And finally, I looked back at Georgia, she was looking at me with disappointment and tears filling her eyes. 'I'm so sorry' I mouthed to her, as I began to cry and instead of answering just put my hand down for Braden to put the ring on.

After about ten minutes of being around all those happy people, I said something about being tired and dragged Georgia up to my room with me. I fell dace first onto my bed and began to sob into my bed.

"Courtney, you didn't have to do that, you know." Georgia said, seating herself beside me.

"Didn't you see them looking at me? If I'd said no, they would have claimed I was just tired or something, and didn't know what I was saying." I said, looking up at her, and wishing she could understand.

"I still say you should have just screamed no to that mother effer." She said, looking harshly off in the other direction.

"Either way, I'm screwed. This is the rest of my life, and it's already over." I said, dropping my head back into my pillow, and wishing I'd just been born to another family.


End file.
